A New Global Economy?

This week’s “G-20” summit in London couldn’t have a more dramatic backdrop. Soaring jobless rates, economic depression and corporate meltdowns are just a sampling of what the leaders of the world's 20 largest economic powers have come to discuss as they examine the global financial crisis and decide new measures to set the world on a more stable economic footing.

But in the midst of all the discussion concerning free-trade, open markets and globalization, Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown is calling on an extension of values. “Instead of a globalization that threatens to become values-free and rules-free, we need a world of shared global rules founded on shared global values,” Brown said.

“The unsupervised globalization of our financial markets did not only cross national boundaries -- it crossed moral boundaries, too.” Markets need morals, he continued, and they work best when the values are upheld. “We do not need the benefit of hindsight to know that the sheer scale, scope and speed of today's global changes is throwing up problems which, if we do not address, will condemn millions around the world to a life that is unsustainable, insecure and unfair.”

Something that might be noted, however, is that millions of people around the world are ALREADY living lives that are “unsustainable, insecure and unfair.“

So where do we go from here?